United States presidential election, 1860

In 1860, the United States was like a big family that was starting to argue. The biggest argument was about slavery. Some people wanted to stop it, and others wanted to keep it. This big disagreement made it hard for everyone to agree on who should be the next leader of the country. It was a really tense time!

There were four main people who wanted to be president! Abraham Lincoln was one of them, and he was part of a new group called the Republican Party. They didn't want slavery to spread to new places. Other candidates represented different ideas about slavery, and some people even split into different groups because they disagreed so much!

When the votes were counted, Abraham Lincoln won! But here's the super surprising part: he didn't win a single vote in many of the Southern states. This shows just how divided the country was. Winning the election was a huge deal, but it also meant big changes were coming, and not everyone was happy about them.

Because Abraham Lincoln won, and he didn't want slavery to spread, some Southern states decided to leave the United States. They formed their own country. This disagreement over slavery and leadership led to a very sad war called the Civil War. The election of 1860 was a big moment that led to this conflict.